This girl milks “birth month” like her mother no other! Her birthday falls over spring break every year and since we’re usually traveling, she ends up with a few birthday celebrations … so beware of round’s two and three!
This year in talking to Piper about what she’d like to do for her birthday … CJ interjected and said we should have a sleepover at a near{ish}by indoor water park/hotel. And … being the good wifey I’m trying to be {think Love Dare plan}, I bit my tongue nodded in agreement.
Half the girls she invited ended up not being able to come … and man! was that a blessing in disguise! We also let Wynter invite a friend and then we had little Huntie with us too. So including my girls, we had a total of 7 girls … not too bad. Oh! and I’m not counting the teen and her friend … who I thought came along to help, but turns out they were on teen vacay.
Anyway.
Can you imagine how excited this little girl was? It was the talk of the week! At one point, I counted out “nine.teen.hours til party time Piper, now go to bed!”
Finally! It’s party time!
CJ also had a brilliant idea of having a cake eating contest … so we had small cakes for each girl made. A series of misfortune events, didn’t allow for a contest. Or eating the cakes at the hotel. But no worries, we brought them home and everyone ate them the next day. Aren’t they cute?
After a short stint of swimming in the wall-to-wall bodies wave pool & water slide, the girls got into jammies and we headed down to the cute little soda fountain restaurant for some burgers, dogs & fries!
Oh! and let’s not forget about the KITCHEN SINK sundae!! 26 scoops of ice cream, whipped cream, ice cream sandwiches, sprinkles and toppings galore. Tummy ache anyone?
Well yes … as a matter of fact! One little girl had kind of a nervous tummy, so didn’t end up eating anything … she also ended up in the room reading for a bit and talking to her mom to feel better. I think the a aforementioned “cake eating contest” was getting to her. But after some quiet time and a talk with mom … she rallied in time to join the girls in the game room.
After dinner, the girls did some ceramic painting … little banks.
The hotel was really awesome at helping with Piper’s party and making everything easy for me special for her.
At one point, while I was watching Piper dance, I had a flash-forward to her wedding … shhh, don’t tell her father! Gotta admit, it was kinda scary!
We topped off the evening with some game room time before heading to bed …
The hotel was so crowded. Seriously. And given I didn’t want to lose a kid anything to go wrong on my watch … we decided not to swim the next day and headed home early instead. After some more time in the game room, the girls were all down with the plan … heck, CJ was even down with the plan. :)
We ordered some pizza when we got home and then let the girls eat their cakes at their own pace … with utensils. But my little sweet-tooth of a girl was fixed on diving into the cake with no hands … so I gave her a thumbs up and she went for it!
And I’d like to go on record noting that CJ asked over and over again “how was this a good idea?” I’d like to also go on record noting that I’m really good at biting my tongue nodding in agreement.
Oh! And one of best things? Instead of gifts, Piper asked for items to donate to hannahssocks.org … a pretty cool organization, started by a 4 year old girl who saw the need for people to have something as basic as a clean pair of socks. Amazing!
Look at the goodies she was able to send in!
One last thing I wanted to share in this post of all posts … the favor bags! Since it was a swimming party … well, since it was supposed to be a swimming party, I wanted to do something “summery” for the favors.
So I got plain beach towels, enlisted the help of my designer friend Nellie and made cute little tags to tie around the towels. We also threw in a jump rope, bubbles … and what was that other thing I was going to put in there? Oh yeah. The sidewalk chalk that I forgot on my laundry room counter, and didn’t discover until the party was over. I also ordered flip-flops for the girls, but they never came. And procrastination had nothing to do with that. Yeah.
We also threw in some game room tokens once we got to the hotel. The girls really loved their bags and they came in pretty handy when they were toting around their game room junk winnings.
I also thought I’d try my hand at an iron-on transfer … and I’m happy to report … success!
Um, I’d like to disclose that “success” came after a screw up. Why in the world don’t I trust directions? So it says to “cut out a circle around your pattern.” I seriously couldn’t figure out why and thought it must not apply to me.
So I took the transfer … ironed it on my bag and … fail. So any of you that might use “try this at home” … be sure to cut out your design before you do your transfer.
OK, I just love that beautiful little girl, Piper! To only be 8 years old, and request a charitably contribution instead of gifts – that is something you should truly be proud of Tracie! What an amazing little girl. This really warms my heart. Hat’s off to you for raising such a kind-hearted young lady.
Aah, Piper is a birthday buddy after my own heart!! Nothing wrong with birthday month!! (And will someone please tell my hubby that?!)
The party looked like a ton of fun! Bravo to you for going along with cj’s crazy plan! ;-) The girls looked like they had an awesome time. (And hey — is that Lauren O.? We LOVE her! Daycare pal from way back when!!)
Love the crafty treat bags! You did a fab job!
okay seriously love it all!! good work on this party mom (despite the crazy, busy location you guys made it work! good for you!)!!
can i just say i believe i have dreamed of that sundae?? :-)
and i’m still in denial that piper is going to be 8…no way!!!!! :-)
I LOVE the favor bags. A question about your iron-ons…did you print them yourself or have them printed? If you printed them yourself, did you use a particular paper that you’ve had success with, and if you had them printed, please tell me where. I’ve been dying to make something like this for my little man!
ohhhhh what an AMAZING and FUN and CREATIVE and WONDERFUL celebration!!!!!! I really love the mini cakes, your favor bags and that huge ice cream sink! I think it’s so sweet and generous for Piper to request sock donations… really cool! what a brithday to remember!!!!!!! She may not remember every little special detail… but thanks to your blog and photographic journal she’ll always have the love and details close to her heart. HAPPY 8th sweetie!!!!! I can’t imagine what’s in part two.
What a great mom! Those are some wonderful ideas for a party! You are brave to take that many kids to a pool party. I have trouble even taking our little P to a place like that…let alone a bunch of other kids. Glad that you had so much fun!
Those mini cakes are adorable! You always do such a wonderful job of making each birthday so special for the girls. That picture of them dancing around the restaurant in their pjs is priceless…as is the memory each of them will have of that day/night as they get older! And seriously, could that kitchen sink sundae be any cuter? I think not.
this is the most adorable birthday party ever! love those little cakes!! how sweet.
Oh my goodness, what fun! I’m dying over the kitchen sink sunday, that’s insane/amazing. You always throw the best parties! You’d make a perfect party planner, lady – as if you don’t have enough to do. ;)
i was so excited about that sundae, i misspelled it, oops. sundae, not sunday!
what a lucky girl to have such an amazing mom! those party favors are perfect & those little cakes = inspiration for everyone who sees this post! (that is a whole. lot. of. girls. (I can see what you meant by it being as blessing in disguise!)